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NEAFL finals

Don't think has been covered elsewhere. Details purloined from another site.

1 and 2 - Swans and Lions have week 1 off.

3 v 6 - Uni v Aspley
4 v 5 - Suns v NT Thunder

We will play the winner of Suns/Thunder and Lions play winner of Uni/Aspley.
Grand Final the week after which is week 1 of AFL finals.

Finals eligibility for listed players
a) Minimum of 3 H&A NEAFL games; but
b) If player has played 5+ AFL games, he must have played 9 NEAFL games; but
c) Should a player not be selected to play for seniors that weekend, he can play in the NEAFL final irrespective of whether he has played any NEAFL games that season; also
d) For week 2 of the NEAFL finals when it coincides with the AFL bye, a listed player is only eligible to play in the NEAFL final if he hasn't played in Round 23 AFL.

I think for d) this could apply to Hayward if he gets dropped this week, as he has only played 2 NEAFL games.

Ugg, do you know where a GF, if it features us, would be played? Do we play our first final in Sydney?

Our first final coincides with the bye week so would almost certainly be Blacktown.

If we win, we get the right to host the grand final, and although the optimist in me hope it could be staged as the curtain raiser to our AFL final (assuming we finish 5th or 6th) it will almost certainly be at Blacktown again.

The timing of the pre-season byes for the senior and NEAFL sides means that there will be players eligible for the GF (should the NEAFL side get there) who won't be eligible for the games vs the Suns or NT. My read of the rules is that the eligibility rules (ie minimum number of NEAFL games and maximum number of AFL games) don't apply if the senior team is playing a game that weekend. Our seniors won't be playing a game in the week the NEAFL side plays either the Suns or NT but they will the following week (the GF week). So Hayward, as an example, couldn't play against the Suns or NT but, if he's not picked in the senior team, would be eligible to rock up in the GF.

It's probably a bit hypothetical for Hayward, but the ruck situation could be interesting. All our rucks have played more than 5 AFL games but none have played at least 9 NEAFL games (I think). So even if all three are fit (and only two would play) if the senior team did have a game, none will be able to play in the Suns or NT game. If we reach the GF, one will be able to come into the team.

Liz, the rules and regulations specifically mentioned the case of the AFL bye in 16.2 (e) and I quote

A primary or rookie listed AFL player is eligible to play in the Competition finals series Match where there is a bye/week off in the AFL competition provided he has not played in an AFL team in the week prior to the Competition Finals match, irrespective of whether or not he has played in a Competition Match that season.

So for argument's sake, Sam Naismith doesn't get up for the Carlton game. He should be able to play for the NEAFL team v Suns/Thunder the following weekend.

Thanks for starting this thread, 707! I was ruminating about this myself.

Aren't there also rules about maximum number of listed players and/or minimum number of toppies? What are the rules governing eligibility of toppies?

The Lions and Suns are going to be substantially strengthened at the end of the AFL H&A season when they have access to all the eligible listed players. Didn't the Suns only have 7 or 8 listed players playing for them this weekend? They will be an entirely different proposition once they have access to all their listed players (who have played at least 3 NEAFL games). For this reason 707's rule (d) operates in our favour assuming the Suns beat the Thunder week 1 (Thunder are much weaker away than at home - Aspley did the Suns a big favour by beating the Thunder this weekend).

I guess if Naismith doesn't play against the Blues this week he'll be eligible to ruck NEAFL finals week 2 and (a) help us win; and (b) regain form for possible recall to senior side.

Thanks Ugg for clarifying that qualification rule. Does make more sense than my interpretation.

As a matter of interest, do you know of a source of information that tells us how many NEAFL games players have played? In particular, Lions players (given that they loom as the biggest obstacle between the Swans and a NEAFL title and their never-ending array of tall players has caused the Swans problems this year).

Given they are out of AFL finals, the strict qualification rules will apply. And without putting too much thought into it, I am guessing they've rotated players more between the senior and NEAFL sides than the Swans have. A fair number of their fringe players, who have featured in NEAFL games against us, have played more than five AFL games for the year. To qualify to play NEAFL finals, they'll need to have played at least nine NEAFL games. With little idea of how many of them have spent time on the sidelines with injury, it's hard to guess but if anyone knows where one can find a tally of NEAFL games played, it will be you!